The disclosed embodiments relate generally to information technologies and more particularly, but not exclusively, to data communication.
The success of mobile technologies such as the smart phone and tablet leads to the explosive development of new technologies, e.g. smart hardware and the Internet of Things (IoT). For example, smart hardware, which includes the smart home appliances, smart monitoring devices and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), can be used along with the different mobile platforms to achieve better user experience.
Various wireless technologies can be used for connecting devices to a network resource such as the Internet. The communication link may be established using Wi-Fi technology, e.g. via a wireless network access point. The Wi-Fi link, which is based on a client/server model, is easy to develop and can provide sufficient bandwidth that is enough for supporting a large variation of applications. For example, the communication can be established over a network with external routers using standard sockets based on the Wi-Fi technology.
However, the Wi-Fi technology may require a full-fledged operating system for supporting the TCP/IP transport protocol. Thus, the device based on the Wi-Fi technology may need to have a processor with high performance capability for supporting this operating system, which may consume substantial amount of resource available to the device.
Additionally, the Wi-Fi technology is not ideal for application with high security requirements. Using the Wi-Fi technology, the devices may be exposed on the network, which is prone to malicious attacks. Also, the Wi-Fi technology may not be suitable for transporting large amount of data in real time (e.g. performing video broadcasting), since the wireless protocols (like other wireless protocols) is easy to be interfered and may suffer delay in data transport. Moreover, the high energy consumption by the Wi-Fi technology may significant reduce the battery life of the smart devices.
Alternatively, the Bluetooth technology can be used for supporting short-range low-volume data communication. The Bluetooth communication connection is simple to implement and easy to establish network. Also, the Bluetooth technology consumes relatively lower power and enjoys high communication security.
However, the Bluetooth technology is not suitable for performing real-time high-volume data transmission, since the bandwidth is small (e.g. around 1 Mbit). Also, the Bluetooth protocol stack is complex and difficult to handle, usually requires the purchase of a Bluetooth module (i.e. involving extra hardware cost). In addition, the user experience for the Bluetooth technology is not ideal, since the devices need to be paired before the actual usage.
Hence, there is a need for easily, reliably and securely connecting the smart devices with different mobile platforms to achieve better user experience. This is the general area that embodiments of the invention are intended to address.